What Makes a Mother? Interviews With Women Involved in Egg Donatfon and Surrogacy

ABSTRACT: In recent years it has become possible to use eggs from one woman to bring about a pregnancy in another. This led to new dejinitions of who can be considered the mother of a child. Despite much speculation about the problems that may ensue from this situation, it is not at all clear that the women who have made the active decision to involve themselves in egg donation or gestational surrogacy will share these concerns. This paper reports on the interpretive frameworks used by 13 women who experienced either egg donation or gestational surrogacy, to defne their relationships to any children (actual or potential) conceived as a result of their actions. (BIRTH 21:2, June 1994)